Budget Teen Birthday Party - Ha!

[TwoMisfits]

Phew, okay, I have everything I need for tomorrow's party, and even a home party, it all adds up! We have 11 teens (and 2 younger siblings who will eat), and we are doing a 1950s Malt Shop Murder Mystery and serving fully-loaded banana splits, root beer floats, and regular drinks...here's what I spent...

Decorations/Supplies
50's Diner Huge Backdrop Banner $15
Soda Jerk Hats $4
Outside the Box Banana Split Package (banana split boats, spoons, umbrellas) $13
Plastic Black and White Checkered Tablecloth $4
Candles $3
Kid's Poodle Skirts and Mongrammed T Shirts $0 - friend sewed them for me as my DD's gift w/o me asking)
Sundae Glasses $0 (same friend lent them to me)
16oz tumblers for drinks and floats $2.50
100 bendable straws $1
Paper Towels $1
The Murder Mystery Box $2 (Thrift shop buy - made extra characters myself for free)
50's Diner Menus Freeish (Made this myself, too - cost of black and white ink)
Pencils and Paper for Taking Notes $2

The Food
4 Friendly's 1.5 qts (2 vanilla, 2 chocolate) $10
15 bananas $3
3 2lt A&W root beer $3
35 pack bottled water $3
3 6 packs of 16 oz coke $6
2 bottles hershey's chocolate syrup $5
3 bottles of reddi-whip $6
2 qts fresh strawberries (will make sauce in morning with sugar) $5
3 bags mini baking M&Ms $7.50
1 bag mini-Kit Kats (from Halloween) $1.25
1 bag mini Reese's Cups (from Halloween) $1.25
1 bag mini Snickers (from Halloween) $1.25
Sprinkles $2.50
2 10oz jars maraschino cherries with stems $4
40 ct bakery chocolate chip cookies $5
Gallon of Shirley Temples $0 (a different friend is bringing)

Phew...and that's it (of course, I also had to buy extra cleaning supplies as we ran out making everything sparkling, but the house cleaning had to happen anyway - will make spring cleaning way easier...I'm scared to add it up, but here goes...Supplies $47.50 and Food $63.75 for $111.25ish...I guess that's not too bad for that many kids...it's a 3 hour party, and we're hoping we get through the whole mystery (the good thing is we'll put out cookies not going on the desserts pregame, we'll serve drinks round 1, we'll serve the floats or splits round 2 and sing her happy birthday, we'll clean up round 3, and we might open presents round 4 or rush through to the ending if we are short on time...we know, having played with the adults a different version last weekend, that groups can play slower than expected...

Oh, and you're all saying...where's the cake? My DD decided we didn't need to add cake onto the sugar fiesta, since if she has a choice, she's eating everything else 1st. So, we will sing with candles in her banana split (2 scoops, so one number candle in each scoop)...makes sure she's only germing up her food, too, which is great in winter (she's not sick, but you know, everyone starts thinking of germs this time of year...

 

[NinaBella]

Depending on where you live, next time look at a community club house. We live in Florida in a gated community and it is free to use our community clubhouse. You have to give them a check for $25.00 to reserve the space but as long as you clean up after yourself you get the $25 check back. Just a thought to save on cleaning supplies and having to clean the home before and after the guests. Most clubhouses here have a large oversize "family room" style room, dining room, and multi-purpose rooms. Plus there the pool out back if weather permits.

It does sound like a fun birthday party.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Depending on where you live, next time look at a community club house. We live in Florida in a gated community and it is free to use our community clubhouse. You have to give them a check for $25.00 to reserve the space but as long as you clean up after yourself you get the $25 check back. Just a thought to save on cleaning supplies and having to clean the home before and after the guests. Most clubhouses here have a large oversize "family room" style room, dining room, and multi-purpose rooms. Plus there the pool out back if weather permits.

It does sound like a fun birthday party.

I'm in a townhome community, but we only have a pool, no clubhouse...I would reserve one in a second if we had it (but, you know, silver lining is that washing walls and steam cleaning carpets will make the house look great for Christmas!)

This is the 1st party I've done here in awhile...before this year, my teen was happy with dinner and a movie with 2 friends...but you know, high school brings more friends and more expectations...

 

[poohfriend77]

That budget seems pretty good for a party with that many kids. And it sounds super fun! I loved throwing themed parties when my kids were little. They've been "too cool" for them the last couple years, but now that DD is in high school, maybe I could get her to go for something like this!

 

[poohfriend77]

Let us know how it goes!

 

[TwoMisfits]

Let us know how it goes!

I will, although it might take a few days if it wears me out as much as I expect it to (just the noise volume will probably be enough for me wishing for earplugs - darn that I have to host and play "malt shop staff" (and little sib wrangler) while my spouse runs the game and festivities - we found having someone who both knows the answer and all the characters and the books just makes the game run smoother, especially when we add bonus characters)...

 

[TwoMisfits]

Wild success and I'm exhausted...

All the kids showed and almost all on time (and the last ones were only 5 minutes late - although the one who showed 30 minutes early thinking he was thirty minutes late was pretty funny)...I had 50's rock and roll playing on my Amazon Prime stream until the game started, which was a trip for most of the kids who'd never heard those songs (although amazingly, they had all seen a tape player, which we needed for this game set - go figure!). The game itself was entertaining and ran all 3 hours. Kids stayed completely engaged and loved it. They asked to play another murder mystery again (I said maybe this summer, when my other older DD has a birthday).

As for party stuff, all candy and cookies are gone, but 2 quarts of ice cream, 2 whipped creams, some bananas, and a bunch of soda are completely unopened. Guess they'll come in handy when we might get stuck in tomorrow (our other party was already canceled for weather before a single snowflake has fallen, but you know, I don't mind, b/c I think I'll sleep 12 hours!...

2 parties in 2 weeks...boy, I need my holiday vacation now! It didn't help I was on my feet the whole time...